Nightfall:Revelations of Grisly Portent
PM Omniance: August 3rd 10:05 PM Cold Springs PM Omniance: Shane: He's driving them in his truck, Yuri and Lucas are sitting in the backseats. So is there and particular reason we're driving towards the gunshots? Lucas: Because it might be that spider. He says it with obvious anger as he smokes a cigarette and looks outside. They've just driven into town, and they're passing the high school. Shane: He looks at Coty across the way from him, then down at the rifles in the center divide, the silently looks back ahead. PM Arbi: Yuri: See anything? He keeps looking out his window, trying to look into the dark areas behind all the buildings. PM Omniance: Coty: This town is dark as fuck at night. He turns his head and looks around. These lamps really only light up the street. Shane: I don't hear any sirens. The cops would've heard that shot. Coty: They probably think it's just some hunter out in the woods. Shane: Maybe it wasn't a gunshot. He looks over at Coty for a moment. Coty: I know what a gun sounds like. He looks to his brother, then back outside. Unless there's another shot it might take us a while to find the spot. PM Arbi: Lucas starts coughing and gasping for air, feeling as if the air in his lungs were sucked out suddenly. He becomes weak all over, especially the strength in his hands. It feels weaker then how he felt at church earlier today. PM Omniance: Lucas: As he coughs he drops the cigarette out the window and then starts holding his chest. Something's wrong. He coughs again. PM Arbi: Yuri: Bro? What's wrong? He turns away from the window and looks towards his brother, becoming worried. PM | Edited 12:30:09 PM Omniance: Lucas: I... He leans back in his seat. Feel drained all the sudden... He takes as deep a breath as he can. PM Arbi: Yuri: Shane. Shane, pull over! PM | Edited 12:34:19 PM Omniance: Shane: He quickly turns the truck into a small parking lot and into a parking space, stopping it almost immediately. What's happening to him? Lucas: He gasps and then takes another deep breath. He starts breathing heavily, but more normally, getting out of the truck and stumbling a little. PM Arbi: Yuri: He doesn't remember this happening to his brother before. I... I don't know. He quickly gets out of the truck after him and walks up beside him, making sure he doesn't fall. What do you feel? PM Omniance: Lucas: ...Weak... Like something drained the strength out of me and then pulled the air out of my lungs... He's slowly leveling out his breathing. PM Arbi: Yuri: ...Like something drained your strength? He isn't sure what to think, wondering if it's because of Ricky's death or something else. Is this the first time this happened? PM Omniance: Lucas: I felt that way in church earlier today... It wasn't as bad... I thought I might just be from sitting all day. He puts his hand to his forehead. PM Arbi: Yuri: He sighs and looks back at the truck for a second before looking back at his brother. ...Is it getting worse? PM Omniance: Lucas: No... But it's... It's not going away... He looks at Yuri with slight worry. PM Arbi: Yuri: I think you need rest, bro... we'll take you back home. PM Omniance: Lucas: Something is doing this... To me. Smoke starts to rise from his mouth a little, and he coughs. He looks to Yuri, almost glaring at him as his eyes shift to a dull orange-red, but they quickly return to normal. PM Arbi: Meanwhile... PM Arbi: Ember's laying down on one of the couches nearby, facing away from the windows. Jesse's sitting at the large staircase, watching Troy who's still looking out the window into the front yard. Jesse: Is it still out there? The giant black spider has been putting all the men outside into cocoons one by one. When it's done wrapping them up it leaves into the woods with the body before coming back and starting on another. There's only two bodies left outside, one of them having webs spun around their motionless body while there other lays on the ground. PM Omniance: Troy: He's watching the spider with cold, distant, eyes. Like a scientist simply studying an insect through a magnifying glass. It's wrapping them up and carrying them out into the woods. PM Arbi: Jesse: Really? He stands up and walks up to Troy, his guitar strapped to his back. How long is it out in the woods for? PM Omniance: Troy: Seconds, half a minute at most. PM Arbi: Jesse: Knowing that Troy has been watching the scene outside this whole time, he feels brave enough to finally walk up beside him and take a look. He watches the monstrous spider pick the cocoon up, sticking it to the bottomside of its body before walking out into the dark woods until they can no longer see it. Despite it's size it doesn't sound like it makes much noise while it's moving. PM Omniance: Troy: I've never seen anything like this before. I wish I had a flood light on it so I could see it better... As it disappears into the woods he leans against the window. I'm no arachnologist, but still, it's unlike any terrestrial species I've seen or heard of, not just because of the size of it, but because of the way it moves. How it transformed out of Stacy... Is it a spider normally? Or is the human-like façade it's real form? ...Why did it wait until we were going to be caught to change? Did it just want us all in one place? When it spoke, was it smart enough to know what we're conversing about, or was it just replying with phrases it's heard before? PM Arbi: Jesse: Are of you scared of that thing? I don't think I've seen you scared this whole time, Troy... is this all normal to you? PM | Edited 1:28:26 PM Omniance: Troy: Huh? He looks at Jesse and smirks a little. Never been afraid of spiders. He looks back outside. ...And I'm not sure I'd consider being trapped in a house after being kidnapped by a group of thugs, "normal", but it's not really out of the ordinary for me either... PM Arbi: Jesse: But you should still be scared... that thing could kill any of us, that's why we're trapped in here. PM | Edited 1:32:36 PM Omniance: Troy: He shakes his head as he keeps an eye on the outside, waiting for the spider to return for the last guy. He pushes away from the window. I can't die. He looks over at Jesse. If I get hurt, I'm back to normal in about ten seconds, give or take five. I can prove it to you, if you want. PM Arbi: Jesse: Back to normal? He looks a little nervous when he hears that. ...You're human, right? PM Omniance: Troy: Yeah. He looks back outside. ...But now you know why I wanted to be the bait for this... Spider. PM Arbi: Ember: What else haven't you told us? She sits down beside Troy on the window nook, though she doesn't look outside. PM Omniance: Troy: I mean, I never implied that I wasn't immortal. I volunteered for all the dangerous stuff right off the bat. He looks over at Ember. PM Arbi: Ember: She looks back at him and motions back to her cousin. Jesse here can manipulate stuff around him with his guitar, he just needs to sing a few lyrics and it'll start happening. Jesse: Ember! Ember: She looks up at him. He deserves to know about our powers... and after seeing that monster outside, there's no point in hiding it anymore. PM Omniance: Troy: He looks at Jesse. I figured it was something like that when you told me to get his guitar to him. What "stuff" can you manipulate, exactly? PM Arbi: Jesse: The less people know about what I can do the better. He looks at both of them before he sighs and looks back at Troy. When I play my guitar and sing I can do a lot of things, like making a door open by itself or causing a shotgun to jam. PM Omniance: Troy: But can you change the state of something? Like turn a glass of water into... Orange juice, or something? PM Arbi: Jesse: He quickly looks over at Ember before looking back at Troy and answering. I- Ember: I don't think it works that way. PM Omniance: Troy: So you can influence causality, but can't change the state of matter... He looks back outside. By singing and playing guitar. He smirks. Does it work with other instruments, or only guitars? Or is it only that particular guitar? PM Arbi: Jesse: Guitars are the only instrument I can play. PM Omniance: Troy: So you can't drum your fingers on a table and sing something for the same effect? He leans closer to the window. PM Arbi: Jesse: He shakes his head and briefly looks back out the window. The giant spider still hasn't come back. PM Omniance: Troy: This is the longest the spider has been gone since it showed up. He leans down a little and looks up. PM | Edited 2:17:21 PM Arbi: Ember: Even though it terrorized her before when she watched Stacy Lee's grotesque transformation, she decides to man up and turn around to take a look outside. There's a green truck nearby flipped over on it's back. In the middle of the front yard is one of them men from before, he's not moving. One of them is still outside... PM Omniance: Troy: Maybe the spider's had it's fill for the night? He looks back down to the last remaining guy. PM Arbi: Jesse: He keeps looking outside, almost expecting the spider to show up suddenly but even after a long quiet moment there's still no sign of it. I know they kidnapped us but... PM Arbi: Jesse: He looks at Ember and then Troy. I think I'd feel a lot better if I knew he was in jail and not that monster's next meal. PM Omniance: Troy: Who knows what they were planning on doing to us... They might deserve it. He leans his head against the window again. If that spider's not coming back, that means it went somewhere else. It might've seen something and ran off after it... Who knows. PM Arbi: Jesse: He looks out into the distance, there's trees everywhere around the manor. It might still be lurking behind the trees too. He looks down at Troy. You said you can't die, right? PM Omniance: Troy: Yeah. Want me to go out and check? PM Arbi: Jesse: Could you try checking on the guy? If he's still alive... we have to save him. Ember: She looks away from both of them, her cheek is still bruised from getting backhanded. PM Omniance: Troy: He turns his head and raises an eyebrow at Jesse. Really? PM Arbi: Jesse: He feels bad for even bringing it up now and looks down. ...I just thought it was the right thing to do. PM Omniance: Troy: He looks at Ember, then gets up. Well... He's probably paralyzed, so he won't be able to hurt us. He folds up his sleeve so his watch is visible. I guess I can check on him. He starts walking towards the front door. PM Arbi: Ember: She stands up and walks up to the door with Troy. ...that bastard deserves to rot in jail. I'll watch your back. PM Omniance: Troy: He opens the front door. If that thing captures me and drags me off. He looks back at Ember. Promise me that you'll go to that big mansion in the woods and tell me friends, alright? I don't want to be wrapped up in webs until that spider dies of old age... PM Arbi: Ember: Don't talk like that, Troy. That spider won't get you... PM | Edited 2:59:18 PM Omniance: Troy: Just in case. He walks out and looks around for a moment, then up, before slowly making his way across the front yard. Carefully keeping an eye out for the spider. PM Arbi: Troy can feel the chilling wind the second he steps outside, it's especially cold tonight. When he looks around he can see some bloodstains in the dirt and grass but no sign of the black spider anywhere. When he reaches the bearded man on the ground he can see his eyes are open but his body isn't moving. He doesn't look like he's bleeding out. PM Omniance: Troy: He leans over him and puts his hand to the man's neck, he can feel his pulse, though it's very weak. He grabs the man's arms and starts dragging him across the yard as quickly as he can. PM | Edited 3:11:29 PM Arbi: Before Troy can even drag the body a few feet towards the house he sees something moving out of the corner of his eye. The trees in the distance are swaying back and forth, he remembers seeing this when the giant spider would come back. There isn't many options left for him at this point but he'd better decide quick before he gets caught. He's surrounded by trees but the ones near the house are a little thin and they might not hide his body completely. The next closest thing is the upside down truck, it's massive and he could easily hide behind it but he would have to run really fast to reach it in time. The last option would be to run back to the house but it's the furthest option out of all three but the safest if he reaches it in time. PM Omniance: Troy: He immediately bolts for the overturned truck, running as fast as he can, adrenaline building up in him. PM Arbi: Ember: ...Run, please run faster. She sees that Troy's making a run for the truck and watches him with the front door opened though it isn't long before she sees one of the spider's massive pointy legs come out from behind one of the trees in the distance. She closes the door, not wanting to draw the spider's attention and have it catch Troy in the process. She runs to Jesse to look out the large window. PM Omniance: Troy: He stumbles and rolls behind the truck accidentally as he reaches it, pressing himself up against it as he hides. He forces himself to breath more quietly as he tries to listen for the silent spider. PM Arbi: Ember and Jesse watch as the spider emerges from the trees, it's long legs letting it move over great distances even if it's not moving that fast. Within seconds it's back over the body if left behind, it's many eyes looking towards the house as if it knew something was wrong. PM Omniance: Troy: He waits silently, trying to figure out what the spider is doing, he tries to duck down low and look through the window to see the spider's legs. PM Arbi: The monstrous arachnid keeps its eyes on Draynor manor for a long quiet moment before it slowly crouches back down, starting to wrap the bottom half of the bearded man in webbing. PM Omniance: Troy: He rolls his eyes a little, knowing that coming out here would probably be a waste of time. is why I ignore you all the time, conscience. Because you're stupid. He looks around to see if he could get to the back of the house to get back in. PM Arbi: The massive spider stops suddenly and leans down even closer to the motionless body, bringing it large pincers down onto the man's stomach and making small lacerations in his skin. PM Omniance: Troy: He hides behind the car a bit more when he sees it bend down lower, but his curiosity gets the better of him and he peaks to see what the thing is doing. PM Arbi: As Troy takes a closer look he sees the monstrous spider's strange unnatural mouth open behind its pincers before it starts secreting some type of thick red liquid full of small little black objects the size of marbles. These black little objects all seems to drip carefully into the man's lacerations, disappearing inside his body. This all happens within a moment before it pulls away from his body and immediately continues to wrap him up in a cocoon. PM Omniance: Troy: He strains to get a better looking. is that? Eggs? He watches as the spider begins to wrap the poor guy up in webbing. PM Arbi: Troy can suddenly hear Jesse's guitar coming from the backside of the house. The spider lets out a low shriek before its rushes towards the house, climbing on top of it and disappearing into the darkness. PM Arbi: Ember: She opens the front door, trying to whisper as loudly as she can. Run! PM Omniance: Troy: He runs towards the house as quickly as he can, looking back at the cocooned man in the yard as he reaches the front door. PM Arbi: Ember: She closes the door behind him but the front door is immediately pushed wide open before she can close it all way by three massive spider legs. She gets thrown down to the ground hard, the impact knocking her out. The massive spider shrieks into the house, trying to reach for whatever it can to pull out. PM Omniance: Troy: He stumbles back away from the door, grabbing Ember and pulling her away with him. PM Arbi: Jesse: He quickly heads back into the main room. Troy? Ember! He runs up to him and helps him pick Ember up to move her away from the spider's legs. PM Omniance: Troy: I think she hit her head! He looks to the door as the creature shrieks at them. PM Arbi: Jesse: He helps him move her to one of the chairs before he takes out his guitar and starts playing. ...No, no one's going to get... inside. As hard as you try, the house will fight back... The front door start pushing back against the spider but it easily pushes them away. It seems like you've won but it's all just false hope. The large rug in front of the house immediately rushes forward, covering the spiders face and making it stumble back before the doors slam shut. PM Omniance: Troy: He smiles as he watches the spider recoil out of the house. Damn. That's actually awesome, heh. PM | Edited 4:20:40 PM Arbi: Jesse: He stops playing and sighs in relief, glad that the spider didn't get inside. That was too close... PM Omniance: Troy: He sits down on the floor, thinking for a moment. I need to get back to the house somehow. He looks at his watch. The sun doesn't rise here for at least another eight hours... He lets out a sigh and looks around. PM Arbi: Jesse: He turns and looks back towards Ember and then Troy. Why do you need to get back? PM Omniance: Troy: Because a guy I know was attacked by that spider and survived. He stands up, looking around for a phone. And if the same thing happened to him that happened to that guy out there, we might not have much time to waste. He walks off towards the living room area.